By J.
T. Headley
Comprising the early life and
public services of the prominent naval commanders who, with Grant and Sherman
and their generals, brought to a triumphant close the great rebellion of
1861-1865. (First edition 1867)
(Return to table of contents of this book)
CHAPTER
XXVII
REAR-ADMIRAL
HENRY H. BELL
HIS
NATIVITY—AVENGES AN INSULT OFFERED TO THE NATIONAL FLAG IN CHINA—AT THE
SECESSION OF THE SOUTH DISOWNS HIS NATIVE STATE—SERVICES IN NEW
YORK—APPOINTED FARRAGUT’S FLEET CAPTAIN—A BOLD RECONNOISSANCE.—CUTS THE
BARRIER ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI—LEADS ONE DIVISION OF THE FLEET IN THE PASSAGE
OF THE FORTS—HOISTS THE NATIONAL COLORS OVER THE CUSTOM HOUSE IN NEW
ORLEANS—COOLNESS IN PASSING THE VICKSBURG BATTERIES—SUCCEEDS FARRAGUT IN
COMMAND OF THE WEST GULF BLOCKADING SQUADRON—ORDERED NORTH—SERVICE IN NEW
YORK—HIS HEALTH BREAKS DOWN—HIS PRESENT POSITION
Admiral Bell is a native of
North Carolina, from which State he entered the navy the 4th of August, 1823.
His early cruises differed little from those of other young officers. He was
distinguished for devotion to his profession, and steadily rose in it till, at
the breaking out of the war, he ranked as captain.
In 1855, he commanded the
frigate San Jacinto, then attached to
the East India Squadron, under Commodore Armstrong. While on this station, one
of the ship’s boats returning one day from the shore—whither it had been
sent—was fired upon by the Barrier forts in Canton River. The Commodore was
inclined to negotiate on the matter, but Captain Bell and Captain (since
Admiral) Foote, were aroused at this insult to the American flag and urged the
former so vehemently to avenge it on the spot, that he finally consented to let
these gallant officers do it in their own way. They at once manned their boats
and pulled for the forts. The latter opened fire as they approached; but the
rowers bent steadily to their oars until they were beached near the hostile
works. Bell and Foote then formed their men, and leading them in person, rushed
to the assault with such fury, that the Chinese, terror-stricken, left their
guns and fled in every direction. Captain Bell then laid the trains and fired
them with his own hand, blowing the forts into fragments. He thus taught the
Chinese that it was a dangerous thing to touch the American flag where his ship
floated.
Although Captain Bell was a
Southerner by birth, and married a Southern woman, and one connected with the
leading families and secessionists of Virginia, he never wavered a moment in his
duty. Indeed, it can scarcely be said it got so far as a question of mere duty
with him. Intensely loyal, his whole soul was aroused at the rebellious attitude
of the South. The first gun fired at the old flag at Sumter, stirred his blood
as did the hostile shot aimed at it in Canton River. When his native State
seceded and joined the Southern Confederacy, he wrote to Washington requesting
to have his name registered as coming from the loyal State of New York, as he
was unwilling to appear in any way as belonging to a secession State.
In 1861, Captain Bell was
employed in the responsible duty of fitting out and arming the nondescript
vessels that the agent of the Navy Department was buying to be used in blockade
duty.
When Farragut took command of
the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, Captain Bell was appointed his fleet captain,
and took part in all the operations that led to the fall of New Orleans.
The month previous to the
passage of the forts, he ran up to inspect the cable that stretched across the
river, and the batteries. This bold movement drew a furious fire from the forts,
but Bell coolly finished his reconnoissance. Some time after, Farragut wanted to
get a peep at them himself, and so Bell took him up. He steamed up in broad
midday, and could see through his glass the forts thronged with officers
watching his movements. But to obtain a fairer view, Bell and Farragut mounted
the rigging, and getting astride the cross-trees, began to take observations. In
a few moments a puff of white smoke was seen to issue from Fort Jackson, and
before’ it had melted into the air a 100-pound rifle shell came screeching
towards them, striking the water about one hundred yards ahead of the vessel.
After a short interval there came another puff of smoke, and another monster
shot shrieked overhead, passing only fifty feet above Farragut and Bell. This
was getting rather too close, for Bell had the Admiral with him, and "Back
her" came from aloft. The vessel drifted down two or three ship’s
lengths, when a third shell struck and burst on the very spot they had just
left. In a few minutes, Bell steamed ahead again into the fire, when a 100.pound
shell came like a sudden gust of wind between the smoke-stack and mainmast—its
windage actually rocking one of the boats hanging to the vessel’s side.
When everything was ready for
the squadron to advance, it was necessary, as a preparatory step, to cut the
cable, which was strung across the river on hulks below the forts. This daring
and difficult enterprise was entrusted to Captain Bell. It was a dark night,
when, taking the Pinola and Itasca
gunboats, he steamed up to the barrier. Petards had been brought from the north,
which were to be thrown aboard one of the hulks, and discharged by electric
wires from one of the gunboats—this part of the plan failed, owing to the
heavy gale that was blowing.
As Bell steamed past the line
of mortar schooners Porter opened fire; and, canopied by blazing shells, arching
the sky overhead, the boats ran boldly up to the cable, and commenced the work
of destruction. Sledges and chisels were soon busy sundering the chain; the
anchors of the hulks, were slipped, and the work went steadily on. But, in the
meantime, they had been discovered; a rocket from one of the forts shot into the
air, and then both opened a tremendous fire. The gallant men, however, paid no
heed to it till their task was accomplished.
It is said that Farragut threw
his arms around Bell in delight, when he once more stepped safely on board his
vessel.
In the final passage, Bell led
the second division in the Sciota. His
vessel set fire to two steamers in her passage, and captured a third. She was
the fourth in the attack and capture of the forts at the city of New Orleans on
the 25th, and the third in passing up in front of the city.
The victory having been won,
he, on the 26th, hauled down his pennant, and repaired on board the Hartford
to resume his duties as fleet captain. He gave Captain Donaldson of the ship,
and his officers and crew great praise for their conduct while passing the
forts.
It is well known what an
excitement followed the pulling down of the American flag from the customhouse,
after it had been raised there by order of Farragut. The New Orleans papers
praised the daring act, and Mumford, who had committed it, was regarded as a
hero. As the surging multitude gazed on the rebel flag flying in its place, they
declared that the man who attempted to haul it down should die. Knowing that
some action would be taken in the matter, the crowd assembled in large numbers
in the immediate neighborhood of the custom-house; and angry, savage faces
scowled out from the turbulent mass, and oaths, and threats of vengeance filled
all the air. In the midst of this excitement, Bell landed on the levee with two
officers and a handful of marines, and took his course for the custom-house. The
mob opened as he advanced, but closed up behind him, cursing him and his little
band, and swearing that the moment a head appeared above the roof of the
custom-house, a bullet would pierce it. But Bell, unmoved and erect, and like
Abdiel amid the rebel angels, passed
"Long way
through hostile scorn, which he sustained,
Superior, nor
of violence feared aught."
Reaching the custom-house, he
demanded the keys. They were given him; but every one refused to show him the
way to the roof. He then stationed his little band in front of the building, and
taking one of his officers and his coxswain, groped his way along the passage,
and finally mounted to the roof. In the meanwhile, the excited multitude below
watched the roof of the building, to see if he dared to show his head above it.
As it appeared above the opening a deep murmur of vengeance rolled through the
streets. Slowly, and with a dignified carriage, as became his solemn task, Bell
rose to view, and his tall, commanding form stood in full relief against the
sky. With no theatrical display-not even deigning a glance to the excited
multitude below, thirsting for his blood-without haste, but calmly and slowly,
he, with his own hands, lowered the rebel flag in sight of all, and hoisted the
stars and stripes in its place. All expected to see a bullet pierce him, but the
calm, dignified, fearless bearing of the man; the sublimity of the scene as he
stood there penciled against the sky, overawed the angry passions of the mob,
and breathless silence fell upon it. Here there was no excitement of the combat;
no clangor of trumpets, or shouts of men to brace up the nerves and stimulate to
daring deeds; nothing but love for the dear old flag, and of the honor of his
country. Nothing could exceed the moral grandeur of the act—it would make a
subject for a great picture. The national ships at the levee, with their guns
bearing on the city; the heaving, turbulent mass blocking all the streets; the
little band of marines, with firm-set front, standing across the door-way; the
tall, erect form of Bell pictured against the sky from the top of the
custom-house, as he slowly sends the national colors up the flagstaff, form a
group of objects from which some artist will yet give us a great historical
painting.
When Bell descended again to
the street, he, quietly locked the door behind him, and putting the key in his
pocket, placed himself at the head of his marines and marched back to his ship.
When, in the June following,
Farragut ran the batteries of Vicksburg, Bell stood on the poop by his side, to
direct the movements of the fleet, but the darkness and smoke soon shut the
vessels from his sight, and he could tell where they were only by the thunder of
their broadsides, or their blaze as it illumined the gloom, and so gave his
attention to looking up the batteries of the enemy, and pointing them out to the
officers in charge of the guns, and directing where to fire.
After the fall of Vicksburg
and Port Hudson, Farragut, accepting a respite tendered him by the Government,
turned over to Admiral Porter the entire control of the western waters above New
Orleans, and Bell, who had been made Commodore, was placed in command of the
squadron during his absence.
His duties were now of the
most arduous kind, though connected with no important movement in which he was
personally engaged. -is blockading fleet stretched with intervals from Mobile to
Galveston. After dark, he always kept his ships on the move, so that blockade
runners never knew where to find them. While off Galveston, he had the
misfortune to lose the Hatteras—Blake
commanding—which was sunk by the Alabama.
He heard the cannonading, and saw the flashes of the combat, and hurried off in
the Brooklyn in the direction from
whence they came; but could find no traces of either vessel until next morning,
when he saw the masts of the Hatteras standing out of the water, telling him of
her fate.
He detailed a portion of his
force to cooperate with Banks in his movements against Brownsville, Brazos,
Aranzas, and Cabello Passes. Commander J. H. Strong had charge of it, and
received the thanks of Banks, and the commendations of the Government for the
skill, ability, and energy with which he performed his part in the expeditions.
In storm and calm, under vexations, delays, and countless embarrassments, he
executed every task imposed on him.
On Farragut’s return to take
command of the squadron, previous to the attack on the defenses of Mobile, Bell
was ordered north to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Here his incessant labors, joined
to the exposures on the Mississippi and off the coast, completely broke him
down, and, for a while, his friends feared he had made his last cruise. But his
health rallied in the bracing air of the Highlands at Newburg, and he gradually
recovered his strength.
With the old battered Hartford
for his flagship, he now commands the Asiatic Squadron in the China seas, as
Rear-Admiral.
Admiral Bell is a man of
dignified deportment, frank, genial, unassuming manners, and a kind, noble
heart. A better officer, a more gallant man, or one more beloved by all who
serve under him, never trod the deck of a battle ship.
Between him and Farragut there
exists the warmest affection and esteem.